Change For The Best
by GreyandTorres
Summary: Aftermath of Piper attacking Pennsatucky. Partly a reflective over what she feels after the incident. Continuous chapters but will see what people think.
1. Chapter 1

Just thought I would do a chapter on Orange Is The New Black, as I, with everyone else I'm sure am struggling to cope with having to wait for the next season. It's probably not the best I know but I'd appreciate constructive criticism in reviews! Thank you for reading!

**Change For The Best **

Piper headed back to the dreaded place where a week ago, she had committed the crime which landed her in hospital. She looked ragged and run down as she headed on the bus to go back to Litchfield. The personality and essence she seemed to have before had been drained. You could wonder who you were looking at before you realised it was Piper. As she got on the bus she was greeted by a familiar face – Morello.

Morello chose not to say anything at first, and just proceeded to drive back to Litchfield. What could she say? How are you? How's your week been? Any seemingly friendly topic she could talk about could be turned into a sinister ploy for information she could gossip about. Plus, Piper looked like a changed woman. Morello didn't know what to expect out of her. She just pursed her lips and kept on driving.

"You know, you can talk to me if you want." Piper cleared the air of the deafening silence that somehow managed to feel so loud.

"Oh, I was just focusing on the road you know... I didn't want to upset you with anything I said either!" Morello said nervously, as though she had already said something offensive.

"Well, unless you ask me obvious questions about what happened, we can talk. Besides, I don't bite!" Piper said nonchalantly with a short but awkward laugh. It seemed like she hadn't laughed in a while, and with good reason.

"I'm sorry, and I know you didn't want me to bring it up, but people have been talking about what happened. There's so many people creating different stories of what happened between you and her. Some people even think you're a crazy psycho!" Morello laughed when she said this, but it was an uneasy laugh, as she herself seemed to have been partly sucked in by the rumours going around Litchfield. She didn't want to offend the so called 'blondie psycho' now did she?

Piper's face dropped. Her attitude of trying to be as positive about the situation ahead of her had clearly just faded. Her face hardened, and she tried to stop herself from welling up. Piper couldn't even get words out, but she was pretty sure that Morello knew what she was going to say. The rest of the journey was aired with a deathly silence once again.

The bus stopped abruptly as if Morello's mind wasn't fully on the road. She whispered "sorry" under her breath but it was so quiet it didn't seem like Piper even acknowledged it. They both got out of the bus and not another word was spoken between them. It was almost like there was a barrier between them that stopped them from talking to each other. Piper seemed so isolated from everyone now. She seemed so vacant, with a clear look on her face. Anyone who looked at her would notice the change in her.

Piper rushed to Caputo's office, as she wasn't ready to face all the accusing eyes of her fellow inmates. In fact, it was the last thing she needed right now. She just wanted to get in the office and chat about her further punishment. She knew that this wasn't going to be a good day. She knocked on the door of Caputo's office and sure enough, he was in there waiting for her.

"Come in." Caputo's voice echoed.

Piper less than eagerly opened the door, knowing whatever she was about to hear wouldn't be good.

"Hello, Mr Caputo!" Piper said it as jovial as she could, but even for her, at this very time, she could barely muster up a smile.

"Hello, Chapman. Now, we both know what you're here for. I do have to admit it seemed a bit out of character, and I do realise the circumstances of the altercation between you and Mr. Healy before the "incident" happened. Mr. Healy has been dealt with, you don't need to worry. For now, you'll continue cleaning the bathrooms at night until further notice, as we still haven't heard word of whether Tiffany wants to press charges. You're treading on very thin ice Chapman, be **very** careful from now on." The way Caputo said this was in a very sharp, assertive manner, but sometimes you could sense that he hated giving these "last chance" speeches about how they can't afford to make these mistakes again. It seemed no prisoner listened to advice given by the prison staff anyway.

"Yes Sir. You won't see me again." Piper said in a mellow manner. All her personality really had seemed to be sucked out of her. She stood up, looking like that in itself was the hardest task in the world, and tried to smile at Caputo as she left his office, but the smile descended into a grimace and Piper just left the room as soon as she could. She couldn't bear to even talk or think about what she had done the week before. It was still fresh in her mind, and although she had relived it in her mind 100 times or more, it kept creeping up on her and her mind went crazy thinking about it. She was confused more than ever about who she was anymore. This definitely wasn't the Piper Chapman that came to prison. Or was this the real Piper Chapman we were starting to see? Was this the true Piper that was locked away those many years ago after her breakup with Alex? Had she just reduced herself to a life of normalcy to make sure her true colours never shone? These were the many questions Piper hated thinking about. She was struggling to subconsciously come to terms with the fact that this is what she probably had done. And because of her ignorance and lack of care for anyone else's feelings, she had lost the people she loved. Piper was pretty sure that no one was necessarily rooting for her in prison either. But right there and then, Piper decided that she was going to try and make her wrongs rights. And that meant starting with the one she loved and wanted the most. Alex Vause.


	2. Chapter 2

After Piper's meeting in Caputo's office, she rushed off back to her room, or if you could even call it that, her bed and a few of her belongings. Nothing had been moved and she was told she would just stay there as she was before. It was horrible to think that there was no privacy for any of the prisoners in here. Piper would go back to her room, but with everyone looking at her, and staring at her in the undesirable way no one would want to be stared at. There were no walls she could hide behind. All of herself and her feelings were out for everyone to see – all her cards were on the table.

Piper flicked through some of her books that she hadn't read yet, but honestly she was so stressed and her mind was thinking about so many things that she didn't really feel like reading that much. It was nearly lunch anyway, and she hadn't been assigned work yet, which she was thankful for, because it would at least mean she would have some thinking time and alone time before she had to actually start socialising with the other prisoners again. But thinking of facing the fellow inmates made her think of lunch... how was she going to get through it? The staring was bad enough; she didn't need to hear the endless chatter going round about what she had done. It's not even like any of them tried to hide their displeasure at what she had done. Once again, Piper's mind was going crazy with thoughts, and she didn't know how she going to get through the day.

Just as Piper was trying to engage herself into reading a book, trying to wear off the unwanted thoughts in her mind, the clock struck one o' clock and it was lunch. The long intimidating walk she would have to face to get to cafeteria wasn't exactly filling her with eagerness to eat. In fact, by the time she walked up to the cafeteria she had completely lost her appetite. Piper knew from past experience though, once in the cafeteria, you didn't get out until the guards let you out. Piper knew she had to get food and sit down and pretend everything was alright. Because she had to put a front on for everyone, the last thing she wanted to be seen as was weak. Piper lined up for food and looked straight ahead in an effort to ignore all the people so obviously staring at her. She got her food and sat down at the nearest empty table she could see. This wasn't so bad, Piper thought. She was just focusing on keeping her head down, and mashing up her food, as she really didn't want to eat it. It didn't look appetizing either, which was nothing new, but Gloria had improved the food just that little bit to make it actually taste of something so the meat actually kind of tasted like meat now! Red seemed to be off the radar now, which surprised Piper because the kitchen was pretty much Red's livelihood in here. See? Piper was dealing on her own, having fun with her own thoughts, or so she thought. Piper heard a tray clonk on the table opposite her. She looked up to see Nicky smirking at her goofily.

"Hey Chapman, were you ever gonna say hi? I figured I had to come over and make the first move!" Nicky said cheekily but also in an understanding way.

"Well, I wasn't really thinking you would be on my side, ya know, don't stick with the "blondie psycho." Piper said this as she was still messing with her food, but now more aggressively. The rumours really were easy to hear in this place.

"Chapman are you joking? Nothing you did affected me in any way; I can't think or believe you did what you did because you're some kind of fucking crazy bitch psycho either. I mean, as long as you don't try and fuck me up, we're still friends." Nicky said this with a laugh; almost as if she wasn't quite grasping the situation Piper had got herself into. Piper had almost killed someone and she was cool with that? Piper really liked how loyal Nicky was to her friends. It gave her hope.

"I think, in this very moment, you're the only person who could make me smile. How's things been for you? Honestly I'd rather not talk about me today." Piper said this in a serious way, but she let an inkling of a smile out, and she realised that even now she was trying to see the best out of things.

"Well, ya know. The usual stuff. Everyone always waking up in the morning and being depressed because they're in prison. But that's nothing new, that's just everyday in prison. Oh! And my sculpture on the wall looks really fuckin' good now. You should come see it blondie."

"Well, I don't even know if I'm working on electric anymore. Everything seems to have changed." As Piper said this her voice cracked a little bit, clearly saying this with more deeper meaning that she first thought. It brought back thoughts of Alex into Piper's mind.

"Hey, kid, you're not gonna start crying are you? You don't have to worry, nothing exciting is happening in electric anyway, it's nothing to cry about." Nicky winked at her when she said this, knowing why Piper was really sad, but sarcasm was one of Nicky's best traits after all.

"Electric really was my thing though. It's so upsetting that it's been taken away from me. But really, I was just thinking about Alex. You know how much I fucked up. How is she?" Although she carried on the sarcasm she said the word Alex with such a sense of urgency that Nicky was taken aback.

"Y'know Chapman you really have to stop coming to me for advice on Alex. Be direct with her, and if it doesn't work out, everyone loves to watch a fight so it's win win!" Piper flashed Nicky an angry look showing that she wasn't joking anymore and Nicky took a more serious note.

"Okay, okay. She's still really fucking angry with you. I mean, like really fucking angry. She still loves you, but you've pulled so much bad shit on her! So I think right now she's literally like "fuck you" in her head right now. You're going to have to do something real good to get her to talk to you again. Good luck Chapman. "And with that, Nicky got up from the table, and left the cafeteria. Even though they just had a conversation, it felt like Nicky gave so very little away, and Piper wished she stayed for longer. She started to realise how deprived she felt of socializing after not really talking to anyone for a week. What Nicky did say really got to her though. How could Piper even approach Alex now? She fucking hates Piper! Just when Piper thought things could get shit, they get a whole lot shitter. This was just Piper's luck. Piper got up, threw her food in the bin, and left the cafeteria. Just then, she caught sight of Alex, eating with Morello and Big Boo, and she was smiling. She looked happy. It certainly didn't look like she needed Piper. And that was one bitter fucking pill to swallow for Piper.


End file.
